BATTLETECH: the review out of time

The first impact with BATTLETECH is disarming and evocative: a dramatic cutscene, made without any text but supported by the stunning soundtrack of the Jon Everist already known to most for those of Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Hong Kong, which tells of the colonization of space through the centuries. until the conquest of Aurigan Reach, a peripheral area of ​​the galaxy abandoned by military superpowers after the Wars of Succession, by the Arano family. I would speak of pathos without reservation were it not that the whole context derives from the 80">80s RPG of the same name and that I grew up on bread and Mechwarrior until Square released the first Front Mission in 1995, so suffice it to say that I won the first battle with my heart in my throat and a knife in my teeth, blessing Harebrained Schemes and Jordan Weisman, father of the original board game, for giving me the opportunity to return to pilot anthropomorphic robots from fifty tons patiently waiting for my turn. Already towards the end of the first mission, however, something gave me to think: between sudden slowdowns and "I have no idea how much damage I will inflict on you but I try anyway" I raised my eyebrow since the second hour of gameplay: that the game was far deeper than the reviews read last April hinted at? But let's go in order and, as I usually do: trailer!



Although BATTLETECH has been on the market for over a year, after the success of the nearly three million dollar Kickstarter campaign it is undisputed that some of you may not know what mechanics it offers, so I'll try to summarize with a "fights in turns between mechs on 3D maps with free camera, financial administration of the mercenary team and the ship, secondary missions, growth of pilots with skills and perk, assembly and management of the fleet with lots of loot and sale of parts, weapons or auxiliary systems, a basic reputation system without forgetting the breathtaking story that it takes partisans of the stars to (re) conquer the lost kingdom”: On paper, the paradise for fans of futuristic strategy.



The narrative follows the epic traces of Frank Herbert's Dune

The narrative follows the epic traces of Frank Herbert's Dune, with a handful of heroes struggling to return to occupy the throne usurped by a traitor and strings of dialogue declined according to the background of the protagonist selected in the initial customization phase. The management of mechs and their equipment is painstaking: four fighting classes for about forty different models, short, medium and long range weapons, weight balancing and overheating, ammunition, jet pack… there really is something for all palates. The same can be said for the pilots' abilities, which can be conquered through normal experience points that can increase four statistics that also affect the effectiveness of ranged attacks, aiming, the ability to take more critical hits and so on. Personally I also found the maps very satisfactory, procedurally generated in the case of secondary missions while well-developed scenarios are proposed for the main ones and with a decidedly broader strategic scope, where woods, hills, rivers and urban areas play a key role in assigning bonuses and penalties in combat. In particular, it is necessary to keep under control the initiative that determines the phase of the turn, there are five, in which a mech enters into action and the evasion points, given by the movement, position and passive skills of the pilots that reduce damage and percentages with which you score.

BATTLETECH: the review out of time

The mechanics described so far are funded by the god of money, always scarce, which can be earned through the classic secondary missions along the lines of the “escort Tizio up to the rendezvous; eliminate all hostiles; protect the base ", etc. Each assignment has its own difficulty level, a maximum salary and a quantity of loot made up of pieces or weapons recovered from downed enemies settable during the negotiation with the customer. In short, it is a complex game system, not even comparable to the strategic simplicity of a random XCOM, made up of dozens of small variables that require dedication and time to be assimilated and exploited in our favor, also because BATTLETECH is punitive, especially in the beginning. It can happen to win a mission without casualties but to return to the base, which is the Argo spaceship, with four mechs out of four semi-destroyed, as many injured pilots and 45 days of play without being able to accept any employment contract, where perhaps the fixed costs end to erode the accumulated capital and we find ourselves looking at the game over screen due to the financial default.



BATTLETECH is a complex and punitive game, especially at the beginning and if faced with superficiality

The one offered by Harebrained Schemes is a dish that only hardcore gamers can enjoy to the full also due to some technical problems that a year after publication have not yet been completely resolved. First of all there are the continuous drops in frame rate, unjustifiable in light of the fact that my hardware configuration exceeds the recommended length by some length and not attributable even to absurd damage calculation algorithms or to camera problems with a lot of polygonal interpenetration that not even in a threesome. Even the repetitiveness of the proposed clashes does not help a player looking for something light to put before a long restful sleep after a day of work: boredom is just around the corner and the progression is very slow, therefore not very rewarding in a short term. maybe to manage a rather angular interface. The icing on the flaw cake, however, is an artificial intelligence unable to offer an intelligent strategic challenge if we overlook the fact that it focuses enemy fire on sensitive or already hit targets. Now, without expecting a game of chess against Kasparov I expected that BATTLETECH, net of the almost three million dollars raised and the partnership with Paradox Interactive, would offer me something captivating in Fireaxis style... and instead I often found myself facing long sessions of frontal engagement, static, with the only variable represented by the number of opponents and their build.

BATTLETECH: the review out of time

It must be specified that the publisher has provided us with a key for the base title, which I tested with the patch 1.5.1 published last March, i.e. without the Flashpoint expansion which introduced important innovations regarding the variety of missions, three unpublished mechs and a new tropical environment with lots of poisonous spores to be exploited on the battlefield. A second expansion will be released next June, also accompanied by updates to the game system and more or less relevant bug fixing (you will discover this only by living), which however will not overturn the mechanics proposed last year as on the contrary War of the Chosen did with XCOM 2 in 2017. However, wanting to pull the strings of this long review we must conclude that BATTLETECH is an exceptional strategy for fans who like to get lost in the armory menus to compare the statistics and verify their effectiveness by pouring rockets or laser beams on the bad guys (which can also be taken to slaps, now that I think about it), but it remains incredibly complex and severe for that casual user looking for a different title than usual waiting for the new battle royale of the moment.



BATTLETECH: the review out of time
BATTLETECH is an exceptional strategy game for fans who like to get lost in the armory menus to compare stats

Personally, I fell in love with it, perhaps more for the curiosity to understand the hidden gears than for the emotion given by the battle, then I would like to recommend the purchase without too many worries of mind to those who, like me, hate RTS but envy the maps. A final note on the career mode, introduced after the release, which allows you to play without a background story. It is indeed a rather interesting feature that allows the user to set the parameters of the game to his liking, for example by intervening on the frequency with which advanced mechs will be encountered or the amount of saves, passing through the difficulty of the clashes and the generosity of the system in terms of recovered scrap. On balance, assuming one gets caught up in the rough complexity of BATTLETECH, career mode turns into an end game in which to experiment with new solutions and field-test combinations that have not been tried in the main campaign for sixty hours. In case you don't want to start all over again, you could also rely on skirmish, solo or multiplayer, but without the thrill of a negative economic balance that weighs on the player's head like a sword of Damocles ready to cancel all progress. I would venture to call it a valid alternative to the countryside. Now I leave you in the company of the boxes and the vote that you have surely read: I have already written too much and then Santicchia scolds me.

Review by Roberto Turrini
Graphics

Detailed three-dimensional environments, even if the locations of the procedurally generated side missions cannot compare to the complexity of those of the main campaign. Mechs are gorgeous but give their best in the shop. The lighting effects and explosions are less captivating, with an unmemorable shadow management system. Overall, however, to see it is really beautiful.

80">80
SOUNDTRACK AND DOUBLE ROOM

The vote wants to highlight the extraordinary ability of Jon Everist, the composer who already wrote the soundtracks of Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Hong Kong, to enhance the narrative phases. Each number is subjective, but I'm writing the review so that 90 means: I had goosebumps.

90
GAMEPLAY

Rough and punishing if you don't approach it with the calm of someone who has nothing to lose, BATTLETECH is a controversial and slow-moving title: I talked about it in detail in the review and I refer you to that. There are some technical flaws that prevent him from excelling, but the game structure as a whole is majestic and cared for in every detail ... perhaps too much.

80">80
Total Rating scale
82
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